St. George City Incorporation News

[richyb83]

Mentioned here several times here on UP...With a possible break-away school district for SE Baton Rouge...maybe forming a new city. This article shows a small map with the possible proposed boundaries; that are actually larger than the new school district(south of I-12/east of I-10). It would also include the Bluebonnet corridor; Westminster; Millerville, etc...with a population over 100,000!(73,500 registered voters) Due to legal issues; this would not be as easy to pull off as when Central incorporated their own city. Question here...would this also include Gardere?

 

This would not be good for the tax base of Baton Rouge(Mall of La/Perkins Rowe/Industrialplex, etc)...Incorporation requires a petition with 25 percent of registered voters in the area — meaning a new city in southeast Baton Rouge would need more than 18,000 signatures if it were to use the boundaries of the two fire districts(St.George & Eastside). That could begin in August?

 

Check out the article

http://theadvocate.com/news/6285071-123/new-city-sought-for-school#comments

 

Sorry for the small map

 

 

 

 

[itsjustme3]

This would not be good for the tax base of Baton Rouge

Going to have a hard time finding people who care about that

[oneman83]

_{School district or incorporate?   Hummm.......  I bet you are gonna see a new school district now there is talk of the new city of "SOUTHEAST BATON ROUGE".  lol.  Baton Rouge would not be able to survive.  To be honest, I think Baton Rouge should have extended its boundaries decades ago when most of that part of town was woods and swamp land. lol. Oh, looka what we have here, possibly a new neighboring City of Prairieville.  With just those two "cities" that will be close to 150,000 people.  This shall be interesting.}

[itsjustme3]

Bad planning, bad schools, bad police. Bad policy's of stealing taxpayer money to pay for inept busses. It's all catching up to BR.

[Antrell Williams]

Should have incorporated this area long ago. This might actually be good for Baton Rouge, gets there heads from up out of their rumps.

[cajun]

Going to have a hard time finding people who care about that

It's not a completely accurate statement to begin with. Admitting that the loss in revenue would hurt the schools left in the city would be admitting that the parish has been taking that area for granted by using their tax revenue in other parts of the parish.

The mall and other retail establishments are not in the city of Baton Rouge. Those sales taxes have been distributed from the EBR pot- a long term average of about 1/4th of that around of that should have been going to this region anyways given the population distribution (even though much more than a fourth of total sales tax revenue is generated in that area). If anything like Central or Zachary, the new city will retain a portion of the sales tax revenue generated by businesses in the area, while the rest will continue to go to the merged city/parish government for allocation.

It's not going to hurt Baton Rouge all that much, although I'm not the least bit but surprise that William Daniel has come out to say that to deflect from the parish leadership's role in making the idea of a new city so attractive. Had he and his superiors done their job, this area wouldn't feel the need to incorporate. When Holden decides to run for state office, Daniel's career in EBR is likely over.

Let's keep this in mind.....this new city has a population of around 100,000 people and is home to one public high school and some of the most lax zoning and development codes that I've ever seen outside of Houston. They've definately gotten the shaft over the years IMO. They are incorporating to setup their own district. This manuver is more than justified, as it gives this new area the right to setup their own schools and control their own destiny from a development perspective.

In the long run, this will keep the tax base in EBR. Baton Rouge should support this. This new city will have a far better shot at supporting a great law enforcement agency and public schools without raising taxes too high than Zachary, Central, Baker, or Baton Rouge.

They will still be in Baton Rouge's tax pool....and community schools and safer neighborhoods will contribute to the long term viability of that area, and thus the entire parish.

Edited June 25, 2013 by cajun

[cajun]

Should have incorporated this area long ago. This might actually be good for Baton Rouge, gets there heads from up out of their rumps.

It's honestly not bad for the city from a long term perspective given the merged system of government.

They share the same tax pool. There's no doubt a new city in that area with their own schools will stem the tide of middle class people fleeing for Ascension or Livingston.

They'll be three viable school districts in the parish instead of two.

Glad Baton Rouge didn't chase their tax base away by annexing this years ago.

Edited June 25, 2013 by cajun

[Antrell Williams]

You make a great point Cajun but if this area was annexed the political climate of Baton Rouge would likely have been shifted and we would be dealing with a different Baton Rouge.

[cajun]

You make a great point Cajun but if this area was annexed the political climate of Baton Rouge would likely have been shifted and we would be dealing with a different Baton Rouge.

Who knows. I guess it depends on when it was annexed. The merged government in EBR kind of makes annexations useless for Baton Rouge. Baton Rouge can depend on some tax dollars from outside of their limits in a way, but leaders are also subject to parish wide elections.

Some things I'd like to see:

-EBRSO takes over BRPD and LE costs within the high crime districts are shared by 450,000 people instead of 230,000 people.

-New city in southern EBR with either EBRSO as the LE provider or their own police force.

-More stringent zoning regulations and overlay districts in the incorporated portions of the parish, which should be almost everything.

-Annexation of land by Central and Zachary, provided voters in those areas are okay with it.

-Removal of homestead exemption and slow phasing in of property taxes and reductions in sales taxes.

I prefer to think of Baton Rouge as the entire parish rather than one city. I wonder if it's possible to see the new city one day become the largest in the parish.

Edited June 25, 2013 by cajun

[Antrell Williams]

I wonder if they would want their own police department and I wonder what would be their stance on a loop.

[cajun]

I'm sure I can predict their stance on a loop:

N I M B Y

Although they may be interested in doing something about getting Airline Highway moving again.

[itsjustme3]

I'm sure I can predict their stance on a loop:

N I M B Y

Although they may be interested in doing something about getting Airline Highway moving again.

Thats not fair. Ask any part of Baton Rouge residents if they want a interstate running through heir neighborhoods and EVERYONE will be a nimby.

[richyb83]

If this new city does happen...it will be interesting to see what the name might be?

 

The merged government has always been a bit confusing to me.

 

Like mentioned above...just one public High School(Woodlawn) in the entire area...the rest private schools like Parkview Baptist, Episcopal, St. Michael's, Dunham & Runnels

 

Crazy to think this new city could be Louisiana's 6th Largest...sorry...I still count Metairie even though they are not incorporated

 

Could a new City Hall land on the vacant spaces on NW side of Siegen(just before Airline)? Or on Bluebonnet Blvd vacant space across from Mall of La? Possibly Sherwood Commons Blvd??.

[dan326]

I don't know what to think of this, I know people have many good reasons for wanting to incorporate a separate section of the parish but then again it also sort of, partly seems like a spiteful, selfish situation. I really don't think this is going to happen though, I think this is just our "media excitement" for the time being.

[buckett5425]

While it may be a fallacy, the only comment I can make is, "slippery slope." 

[Antrell Williams]

Thats not fair. Ask any part of Baton Rouge residents if they want a interstate running through heir neighborhoods and EVERYONE will be a nimby.

Source?

 

I don't know what to think of this, I know people have many good reasons for wanting to incorporate a separate section of the parish but then again it also sort of, partly seems like a spiteful, selfish situation. I really don't think this is going to happen though, I think this is just our "media excitement" for the time being.

It's not selfish in the least bit. The city parish isn't producing, this is simply a reaction. I'm not saying I agree with it, but it's certainly understandable.

[cajun]

I don't know what to think of this, I know people have many good reasons for wanting to incorporate a separate section of the parish but then again it also sort of, partly seems like a spiteful, selfish situation. I really don't think this is going to happen though, I think this is just our "media excitement" for the time being.

I don't see it as selfish really. This move is more than justified....it probsbly should have happened a decade ago.

The question is if this is going to be used as leverage in another political push for an SEBR district or if they actually want a new city.

Edited June 26, 2013 by cajun

[BRPJ]

Okay, I was trying to find a good map that outlined the actual city limits.  I think i figured it out.   I feel kinda split on this Idea. On the one hand, I hear the cry, on the other  I'd rather see a strong and unified Baton Rouge.  Annex the SE area and include it's citizens officially for a total of 350,000 residents.  I'd rather a unified school system and a bigger, better, smarter city.   Given the tax base and the wealth in that area it rubs me funny that they want to just break off now.  But maybe this is a healthy dilema for the city in that it will make it look more closely at how it runs the parish as a whole and will demand efficiency.  If only this could bring us closer rather than further apart.

 

When you look at the image on the map at the advocate article the area is roughly the same size as Baton Rouge proper.  If they did take that whole area, it seems like it could turn into competition.  I don't know if that helps or hurts the area.  To the outside, does that make the area look unstable? Will it display a new and propsering city, and simultaneously an old decaying one?   I grew up in the southeast part of town, but I never felt like I wasn't a part of Baton Rouge and I don't know if I like thinking about it as something else.

 

BTW some one on NOLA.com said the city should be called "Highland Hills", okay I admit that I like that!

Edited June 28, 2013 by BRPJ

[dan326]

That's all true.  If anything maybe this'll create a sense of urgency within city officials.

[cajun]

Unified school system is apparently neither smarter nor better.....that's the main argument behind this.

I also can't possibly see a situation where that area being annexed into Baton Rouge would be a net positive for the parish or the south EBR area. Maybe someone can suggest some motives behind that.

The area in question would probably benefit from not having the rudderless, craptastic BRPD patrolling their streets. I can't imagine people in Shenadoah being okay with having someone commit an assault and not get booked.....or a having a dispatcher not send a unit over in response to a call about a suspicious person. I mean who needs DUI checkpoints every mile and even more motorcycle mounted cowards with guns?

We know how they feel about the public schools. They've gotten the shaft over the years with only one high school to serve that area while most end up bussed somewhere else. Every year the magnet programs face a threat to be dissolved. Every year they bus students to transfer stations at independence park to shuttle them all over the city. Modern parents aren't going to have their yuppie larvee screwed around with for the sake of a social experiment. That's why private schools are so prevalent in EBR.

What about this situation makes anyone think annexation is even on the table for voters in southern EBR? They don't want Baton Rouge and Baton Rouge very clearly doesn't want them.

IMO, Baton Rouge has proven to be a closed, unwelcoming place with respect to both law enforcement and public education.

As far as middle class families with children are concerned, I can quote Tim Burton's Batman to describe Baton Rouge....."Decent people shouldn't live here, they'd be happier someplace else".

Edited June 28, 2013 by cajun

[Antrell Williams]

I also can't possibly see a situation where that area being annexed into Baton Rouge would be a net positive for the parish or the south EBR area. Maybe someone can suggest some motives behind that.

The area in question would probably benefit from not having the rudderless, craptastic BRPD patrolling their streets. I can't imagine people in Shenadoah being okay with having someone commit an assault and not get booked.....or a having a dispatcher not send a unit over in response to a call about a suspicious person. I mean who needs DUI checkpoints every mile and even more motorcycle mounted cowards with guns?

I agree with the first sentence.

 

However, if BRPD began enforcing laws in this area, many of the deputies and other employees would probably come from the Sheriffs Office. That influence would bring a change in the way some of the crimes are investigated and how situations are handled, particularly public relations. I'm not saying it would be a fix-all but it wouldn't be the current department's culture.

[richyb83]

Will incorporation matter to new school district effort?

Supporters of a new school system in southeast East Baton Rouge Parish have talked about incorporating as a way to get around the Louisiana Legislature, which has blocked legislation for the new system two years in a row. "If I get [enough] signatures, the state capitol can't stop it," Norman Browning, president of Local Schools for Local Children, said at a recent event. But the state Department of Education disagrees. The department says the process remains the same, with or without incorporation: a two-thirds vote by both houses of the Legislature, followed by voter approval statewide and in the affected area. However, the state constitution does allow for "city" school systems, which supporters suggest might eliminate the need for a constitutional amendment. "You probably have to have a declaratory judgment," says state Sen. Bodi White, who led the charge for the new district and also was instrumental in helping Central form its own school system after incorporation. "It's kind of ambiguous." But even if incorporation doesn't help the district's backers legally, it might help them politically. White was only able to garner supermajority support for Central's breakaway district after residents created the City of Central in 2005. "This has been the last big reason that members of the House told them they wouldn't support the school district," he says. "'You're not a city.' So they're looking at it." —David Jacobs

Read more from Business Report here: http://www.businessreport.com/article/20130705/BUSINESSREPORT0112/130709892#ixzz2YCKKAUZ6

[nickels]

So, here comes a two parter.

 

1) Could the fate of Baton Rouge be that of Detroit's? I know that the majority of the city of Detroit had residents move to the suburbs thus destroying Detroit's tax base. ALso the automotive industry being outsourced. 

 

2) Why doesn't BTR annex the surrounding subrubs? My guess is school systems. If the public school system was better I feel more areas would be inclined to stay part of BTR instead of creating their own municipality.

Edited July 8, 2013 by nickels

[garrett_225]

Baton Rouge and Detroit differ in that all its eggs are not in one basket.

Edited July 8, 2013 by garrett_225

[cajun]

So, here comes a two parter.

1) Could the fate of Baton Rouge be that of Detroit's? I know that the majority of the city of Detroit had residents move to the suburbs thus destroying Detroit's tax base. ALso the automotive industry being outsourced.

2) Why doesn't BTR annex the surrounding subrubs? My guess is school systems. If the public school system was better I feel more areas would be inclined to stay part of BTR instead of creating their own municipality.

No functional taxpayer wants to be annexed by Baton Rouge. That move would bring nothing to the table for them as it would kill their chance for their own schools. The parish provides most of the services to residents outside of municipal school districts or police departments anyways. Tax rates really aren't even that different even though the quality of services are.

The city/parish have somewhat of a merged government as it is. It already is a de facto annexation. Holden is mayor of the entire parish, and elected by people from all over EBR.

The new city (or school district) would at least create more viable schools for middle class families in EBR, helping stabilize the tax base that Baton Rouge depends on.

I don't see how this would be a bad thing for Baton Rouge. It would stem the tide of moving trucks headed out to Livingston and keep the tax base in EBR. I think most of us here consider EBR as "Baton Rouge" anyways.

Edited July 8, 2013 by cajun